Ellie starts Daisy Scouts this week, but we're far away from cookie sales. Her school, on the other hand, does a big fundraiser every fall. This one is pretty great as fundraisers go. Really thick, nice quality wrapping paper and Belgian chocolates. Better, it's the only fundraiser of the year! And proceeds benefit the Parent Teacher Organization which pays for great things for the school. (Under consideration for this year are defibrillators and new furniture for the computer lab, among other projects.)
I've been trying to prepare myself to go door to door with Ellie, and then a great thing happened. One of the first grade classes cheated! The order forms were supposed to come home with all the kids last Thursday, but on Wednesday night we met a first grader from around the corner finishing up her walk around our subdivision. She beat us to the punch! This is great! Now we don't have to go door to door.
But I do want to support the effort. So here we are! If you're interested in buying wrapping paper or chocolates and you'd like the proceeds to benefit Ellie's fantabulous school, click below. Unlike the paper forms and cash orders of yesteryear, it's all about easy online shopping now.
Thanks!
A message from "Ellie" (as generated by the vendor):
My school's annual fundraiser with Innisbrook has begun. Innisbrook Wraps has beautifully designed gift wrap printed on quality recycled paper, coordinating gift wrap accessories, gourmet foods and fine Helen Grace Chocolates that make great gifts, Time Inc. magazine subscriptions, and more.
For every item that is purchased, Innisbrook donates up to 50% of the purchase price to my school. I also earn a prize credit for every item purchased except school supplies. The more prize credits I earn, the more prizes I win!
Please consider visiting the Innisbrook website and making a purchase on my behalf. A link is included below. Our sale will be over soon, so don't wait. Place your order today.
Thanks for your help!
Click the link below to visit Innisbrook.com and they will recognize me and my school automatically.
Click here to shop.
10 comments:
I have never taken Teen L door to door for anything other than GS cookies. Most people don't want the other stuff (although it is really nice wrapping paper) and I hate to guilt people in to buying things with a cute kid at the door. However, I don't feel bad about the cookies because they sell themselves and are easy to order since most already know what kind they like.
The junior high begins pushing magazines this week and the elementary will start the wrapping paper in a couple of weeks. Fortunately, Teen L's GS troop does not participate in the fall product sale and I hope that NSBH's will not either.
Surely I'm not the only one who would much rather give the PTA $10 than waste hours of my time and many of my friends' and relatives' dollars doing the fundraiser. Sometimes the stuff is flimsy, and since it's a fundraiser it's always overpriced. Not to crap all over your attempts to entice your readers to support Ellie's school but...they could send you checks for the PTO, skip buying the candy or the made-in-China stuff, and probably give the PTO more money than their cut from fundraiser sales.
I never go door-to-door. Our fundraisers always have a minimum order, which I fill and then get something extra. Sometimes if a grandparent is around I'll ask them if they want anything. For Cub Scout popcorn sales, we buy a bunch and then give them away to relatives who entertain at Christmas, and again, sometimes they'll buy some, too. I hate that schools have to run fundraisers, but I hate the idea of making the kids think they have to raise money for their school even more.
So I clicked the link to buy cookies, because "we're far away from cookie sales" reads like "buy Thin Mints -now-" to me. Yeah, I'm a writer. Language is my fortay.
I'll admit I'm a little curious about the 'Masculine' wrapping paper mentioned on the website. But this is a family blog, so I'll leave it at that.
I hate fundraisers. We'll participate in a low-key way. "Here's a form at work/church/internet if you feel like ordering. NO PRESSURE." But I won't go door-to-door or try to upsell anybody. And with the blog and email I sent to family/friends I already feel like I did too much.
But I used to like buying this wrapping paper when my co-workers' kids were selling it, so I put it out there in case anyone else feels the same. Orange, no need to send $10!
Bingol, I love that. So is masculine wrapping paper for wrapping men, or is it for men to wrap with? Is it condom-like or covered with . . . I don't know. For the teenager next door, Hooters models (ala his bumper sticker). For my husband, Dilbert cartoons. For my dad, plain purple because it's the only color he can see. Masculine!
Orange, your point is well taken and the wrapping paper is certainly pricey. But in Innisbrook's defense, most of their stuff (if not all - I didn't do an exhaustive search) is made in the USA.
My middle child is in a brand new school so the PTA is doing things their own way not "the way we've always done it." Anyway, they set a fund raising goal at registration and said if they met that goal through parent contributions there would be no fund raising, at all. The PTA met the goal so we don't have to sell the gift wrap that all of the elementary schools in the district have to sell. Yay! Now, Nick's in kindergarten at a different school and he did bring home the dreaded wrapping paper packet. Since the classes get so extras if the entire class participates, we'll buy a bit and grandma will buy some as well. It is good quality paper and lasts a long time, but after 9 years of selling, the enthusiasm has worn off. Good luck.
Congrats on avoiding one of the dreaded fundraisers!!! I find this so hard; I can't imagine doing years and years of it.
But selling wrapping paper beats what I had to do for one high school bad trip: stand outside the supermarket in my uniform, literally holding out my hat.
I almost decided the Peach Bowl wasn't worth it, right then and there. Each student had his/her name on a chart - posted on the band room wall - listing how much they'd raised via fundraising (inc. mandatory panhandling) and parent contributions. Rich kids got to avoid "fundraising."
Can I say I HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE fundraisers? Geez, I'm on the PTA board and I hate fundraisers! And I swear we have one like every 6 weeks. In this economy, that's completely unrealistic. The only fundraisers I enjoy are the Scholastic Book Fairs. All that other crap? Ick.
And the Girls Scout cookies? I see what the in-laws buy and then I buy just enough so my kid can get a patch (I think it's 25 boxes). I'm a sucker, but it beats a meltdown.
I made a last minute decision to bail on Daisy Scouts this year. Maybe next year!
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